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OPINION
Barack Obama

Punchlines: Obama and Cuba; Ferguson out with a bang

USA TODAY
Jimmy Fallon

Although the first family is spending the holidays in Hawaii, that hasn't stopped President Obama from working on his try for a new relationship with our island neighbor to the south, Cuba. According to one comic, the president has a golf date with the pope and Raul Castro.

And what are Obama's chances of getting Congress to approve of a restart with one of the few communist nations left in the world? Take a look at today's Punchlines to find out.

After you watch our favorite jokes from Friday's late-night lineup, vote for yours in the quick poll to the right. Watching from your smartphone or tablet? Then visit opinion.usatoday.com to cast your ballot.

Punchlines extra: In closing, Ferguson finally gets his live band to open

When the red curtains were drawn for the last time on the set of Craig Ferguson's Late, Late Show, it wasn't imaginary band Alfredo Sauce and the Shy Fellas (a substitute for the very real band that Ferguson has been begging for during the 10-year run of his show) that viewers finally saw. Instead it was a Baptist choir lifting its collective voice to the studio rafters, swaying in colorful robes, accompanying Scottish band Dead Man Fall in Bang Your Drum.

The live opening music was appropriate in more ways than one.

On his last show Friday, Ferguson finally got his late-night band (sort of). And just like the rest of the show's run, the comic's final opening number was diverse, quirky, star-studded and — despite the host's frequent cynicism — moving and hopeful. Take a look at the combination video and live feature, followed by a video timeline of Ferguson from his first day to his last in excerpts from his last Late, Late Show opening monologue.

Punchlines audio!

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